Thursday February 13 2014
Well, it’s official. I had finished the recording process with my first band while in Baltimore! We were just in the final stages of mastering their EP that would be released in about a month from now. All the songs sounded top notch and I was excited because they were already scouted by another band that was popular in Florida, for a month long tour in a couple of states.
Every day Alex and I would have our small chats when I was going to and leaving work. Our conversations naturally flowed so we were barely ever in awkward silences.
Work was great, my social life was doing pretty good as well, the weather was starting to become better…It was just a great week over all :)
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*The Next Day* (Friday)
“And you better not make definite plans for going out tonight, looks like there have been rolling blackouts in neighbourhoods surrounding Maryland because of bad weather, and it looks like it could be hitting us next, we’ll keep you posted on this story on the next news broadcast at 5:00 tonight.” I was watching tv and eating cereal and barely was even paying attention to the daily morning news broadcast from my cereal crouching in my mouth. All I heard was “blackouts” and “could be hitting us next” so I made sure to grab some of my candles and flashlights and kept them on my kitchen counter, just incase I would be left in the dark at home tonight.
About 45 minutes later, I was on the train and we were stopping at Alex’s stop, and to my surprise, he wasn't in the normal crowd. I had a small frown form on my face when I heard fast footsteps on the pavement. I looked up and there he was, running so he wouldn't miss the train. I had heard someone in the section next to our’s tell the driver to wait just a couple of seconds for him and I was thankful for that because by the time I would have reached the driver, we would've been long gone. Alex entered the train and immediately plopped himself down in the seat beside mine, holding his chest and breathing rapidly.
“Hey” he breathed out at me.
I grabbed the water bottle I had in my purse and handed it over to him, giving him a smile and said “take it, you need it.”
“Thanks” he breathed out again, still trying to catch his breath. A long gulp of water later, he was gaining his breath back, “glad I made it”
“And that’s only because a guy close to the driver told him to wait a couple more seconds for you to make it on”
“I swear I’m not a fat fuck. Just really didn’t wanna miss this train and miss out on talking to you…oh and miss work too, yeah I guess that would be a bummer too…” he said scratching the back of his neck and giving an uneasy laugh.
“Well look at Mr. Big Shot Rockstar complaining about work, wah wah” I said faking crying sounds and poking his arm.
“Hm then I guess I won’t be inviting you then…” he said in a joking tone.
“I’m sorry what? Inviting me for what?” I said leaning towards him purposely asking in an annoying tone.
“Well it just so happens that Mr. Big Shot Rockstar has a show Saturday night at The Ottobar and well I was going to invite you to come to it, but since you’re essentially calling me a baby, I’m starting to rethink that idea” he said sending me one of his huge smiles.
I rolled my eyes at him, “well I’ll think about it”
He gave me a flyer that had all the information about the show including time, place, and all the bands that were playing.
“Oh hey, State Champs and Citizen are playing this show too?”
“Yeah, you like them?
“I do! I’ve seen them both at a small concert back in Chicago. Kinda impressive that you’ll be sharing the stage with them, they’re both amazing live and on the record. You and your band better step it up!”
The train stopped to halt at my station. “Well I’m gonna make sure that by the end of that night, you’re gonna think the same thing about All Time Low too” Alex called out to me as I stood up, waved to him, and left for work.
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*The Next Day* (Saturday)
Alex’s POV
The night of our show was tonight and I was super stoked about it, so were the other guys. I had texted Rachel for a bit last night and I re-invited her to the show and she accepted my invitation. She had also invited me to hang out at her house and then we could go to the venue together, since she was still unsure about the whereabouts of the venue and parking near it, and of course I couldn't turn that down.
I had just pulled into the venue parking lot and walked inside, meeting up with my bandmates. I told the guys about my plans with Rachel and they were both impressed with how our little friendship was going and at the same time mocking and teasing me like the 8 year olds they really are.
“Rachel and Alex sittin in a tree! F-U-C-K-I”
“Shut it, man! You do realize that your mic is on!” I walked over to Jack kicking him in the shin as we were testing out our mic’s.
“That’s why I started it, so she can hear you all the way from her house and fall in love with my song and me!”
I shook my head as I heard Zack and Rian laughing at our idiot friend…even the crew was laughing too.
“Alright guys, take a break for a couple of minutes, we gotta fix up the main speakers” our sound tech told us.
“So how is everything with you and Rachel anyways?” Rian asked me as I went to sit over on the drum kit riser.
“Really really good. We both know a lot about each other, and I know that I sound like such a girl, but I think thats helping both of us get close. It sure as hell is helping me getting to know her and theres barely anything that I don’t like about her” I said to him, a smile on my face the whole time.
He leaned over from his stool and patted me on the head, “way to go, Gaskarth!”
After our quick soundcheck, around 4:30 I left to go to Rachel’s house for a few hours. I was in such a good mood, I blasted and sang along to my music the entire way there. Although it was getting hard to fully lose myself in the music because of the insanely strong winds blowing mine and everyone else’s cars.
Rachel’s POV
“And once again we warn you of blackouts happening in and around the state. A number of blackouts have already been reported and growing at a quick rate because of the harsh winds affecting cable boxes and electrical plants.”
I was watching the news because of curiosity of the whole blackout situations that have been happening in other states, and it looks like it’ll be hitting a lot of us tonight, hopefully not during the concert. Alex was going to be coming over pretty soon and I was just relaxing as I waited for him, internally screaming at the fact that he had invited me to see All Time Low, State Champs, and Citizen tonight. A minute later, I heard my doorbell ring and I jumped off my couch, heading down the stairs to answer it. I did take a second to look at myself in the mirror and adjust my clothes before heading to the door, because I did wanna look good for Alex.
“Hey there! Come in!” I said to Alex very cheerfully as I opened the door.
“Oh god, its a disaster outside! You got a nice place though, wow!” He said, literally jumping inside, shivering from the harsh winds.
“Here I’ll make you a coffee if you want?” I said grabbing his jacket and he nodded back at me, “make yourself comfortable and I’ll give you a tour of the house!”
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Hours later, Alex and I were sitting on my couch watching Ace Ventura: Pet Detective on Netflix and eating chicken wings I quickly made. It was almost 6:30 and I knew we would have to leave soon, so I tried closing my eyes for a quick rest, that was, until Alex gently hit my arm.
“Wakey wakey! We still have a show to go to!” he said in a sing-song voice, laughing at me.
“Yeah I just figured that I-” Black. Everything went black. “Shit.”